Ripple Effect

This week we are revisiting an earlier episode that is still highly relevant to today's water discussion. We are looking back on episode 16: Reclaiming the Discussion.
A talk with Mike Luers of the Snyderville Basin Reclamation District regarding water reclamation and reuse. Interesting tidbits about fish on Prozac and re-framing the narrative on waste water. 

Page Weil, Senior Water Resources at LRE and Erik Skeie, Special Projects Coordinator at Colorado Water Conservation Board, join us to discuss airborne snow observatory efforts in Colorado. This is a great companion episode to our earlier discussion regarding Utah’s ASO efforts. This episodes goes further into the organization and function of the Colorado Airborne Snow Measurement Group and they are helping stakeholder members use ASO data to their advantage. Fantastic discussion!
Check out their website https://coloradosnow.org/

Megan Jenkins, Chief Marketing Officer of Yoppify, makes a return appearance to discuss their Washington County Water Conservancy District pilot project to use Yoppify’s electronic platform to collect retail water use data and communicate with water users. Yoppify is assisting WCWCD’s municipal customers to automate leak notifications, increase AMI engagement, proactively identify disproportionally large water users for targeted conservation marketing, and provide general water use and conservation information. Great discussion about how their flexible tools can help collect big picture data and improve end user experiences.

We are joined by an all-star team from the Utah Geological Survey – Hugh Hurlow, Program Manager of the Groundwater and Wetlands Program, Paul Inkenbrandt, Senior Geologist, and Emily Jainarain, Hydrogeologist, to discuss the new UGS Utah Groundwater Data Hub. The new Hub combines UGS’s existing groundwater data and is built to grow and include other datasets as the site develops. This is an extremely informative resource to find science backed information about ground water level trends, watershed information, and how groundwater informs critical issues like the Great Salt Lake.

This week we are revisiting an earlier episode that is still highly relevant to today's water discussion. We are looking back on episode 34: Building a Market.
Great discussion with Kristina Ribellia, Founder and Chief Operations Director of Western Water Market. We discuss gaps in the water market and how to build a platform that is useful for water users, professionals, and western water market knowledge. 

Jeff Deems from Airborne Snow Observatories and Lily Bosworth from the Colorado River Authority of Utah join us to talk about their joint venture to more accurately measure snowpack in the Colorado Basin.  ASO employs a new flight technology using a combination of LIDAR and a high resolution spectrometer to remotely sense the depth of snowpack and get the snow water equivalent. This data is used for better snow run-off forecasting and reservoir operations. A really cool technology with the potential to be incredibly helpful in the coming years. Check-out the Authority’s very cool public ASO Data Site to see the results of their Pilot Project.

Bart Leeflang, Assistant General Manager of Central Utah Water Conservancy District, joins us to discuss Central’s SID pilot projects efforts. This discussion is much broader than the Pelican Lake project but also gives us a helpful insight into the role, importance, and evolution of Central – the lynchpin of Utah water.

Shane Coors, President, and Tony Powell, Senior Water Resources Engineer, from Precision Water Resources Engineering join us to talk about the RiverWare modeling software and the importance of modeling for large water systems. They discuss their theory of “stewardship through technology” and helping clients model a number of hydrologic, water rights, and water policy/contract considerations across river systems. An incredibly helpful discussion about a key tool in creating more accurate and resilient management of river systems.

Tage Flint joins us to discuss Utah Water Ways, Utah’s new entity tasked with coordinating state water conservation efforts. Tage brings his decades of experience to help Utah make the most of its conservation programs and initiatives.

Rebecca Jewett, President and CEO, and Kristie Nackord, Vice President External Affairs, of the Palmer Land Conservancy, join us to discuss their innovate agricultural partnerships in Southern Colorado aim at conserving water and promoting the local community. We also talk about their very cool Marisol Film project as a unique way to tell their story and engage a larger audience.